Bag closure



A g. 27,1946. 0. v. BRADY 2,406,661

BAG CLOSURE Filed May 15, 1944 Patented Aug. 27 1946 BAG CLOSURE CharlesV. Brady, Webster Groves, Mo., assignor to Bemis Bro. Bag Company, St.Louis, Mo.

Application May 15, 1944, Serial No. 535,640

2 Claims.

This invention relates to bag closures, and with regard to certain morespecific 'features to tie wire closures of this class.

Among the several objects of the invention may be noted the provision ofmeans for making more effective the tie-wire closures produced by theordinary rotary screw twisters employed for twisting the tie wires; andthe provision of means of the class described which requires either verylittle or no additional material for carrying it out. Other objects willbe in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

The invention accordingly comprises the steps and sequence of steps,elements and combinations of elements, features of construction, and

in the structure hereinafter described, and the scope of the applicationof which will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawing, in which are illustrated several of variouspossible embodiments of the invention,

l is a side elevation of a gathered bag mouth showing preliminaryapplication of a tie wire thereto, and showing a twisting tool about tobe applied;

Fig. 2 is a detailed view of subsequent procedure showing a hook of thetwister applied to the tie wire;

Fig. 3 i a view similar to Fig. 1 but showing said tool being pulled andoperated to twist the tie wire;

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3 illustrating theresults attained by the action illustrated in Figs. 1-3;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3 but showing a subsequent step forcuring certain difliculties illustrated in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 i a section taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a View similar to Fig. 6 and showing the final result of oneform of the invention;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of an alternative form of tie wire that may beused; and,

Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing the tie wire of Fig. 8 intied position.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout theseveral views of the drawing.

I-Ieretofore it has been the practice to close a bag mouth by firstgathering it and looping it with a tie wire, the ends of which areformed as eyes. The manner of doing this is illustrated in Figs. 1-4,wherein numeral I shows a gathered bag mouth and numeral 3 a tie wirebent into preliminary position around the gathered mouth.

The initially straight wire is bent for the purpose. The oppositelydisposed eyes 5 of the wire, through which the hook I of a draw screwtool If! is applied, are illustrated in Fig. 2.

The twisting tool In consists of a hollow handle 9 at the end of whichis a nut l l cooperating with a screw l3. The screw may feed into andout of the space within the hollow handle 9. At its inner end the screwhas a swivel head [5. 'Between the head l5 and the nut ll reacts acompression spring l1.

By applying the hook I to the eyes 5, an operator may pull upon thehandle 9 and rotate the 9 arrangements of parts which will beexemplified hook. This is because the handle 9 in the operators handsmay not rotate} hence the action of the nut 'l I on the screw I3 rotatesthe latter. The result is thatthe opposite sides of the tie' wire 3 aretwisted as illustrated in Fig. 3. A pull is applied to the handle 9along the direction of the horizontal arrow shown at l2.

The above procedure has been satisfactory enough for ordinary closuresbut conditions have arisenwherein it is not entirely satisfactory. The

reason is shown in an exaggerated manner in Fig. 4. wherein the twistingoperation has been completed and the twisting tool removed. The twistedportion [9 of the tie wire is not brought down as well as might bedesired against the constricted material of the bag mouth, a space 2|being left. The primary reason for this is that the twisting actionrequires an outward radial pull on the tool 9. This pull deforms thegirth 23 of the tie wire into a tear shape, thus leaving a space such asshown at 2|; and even when this space is visually eliminated, alooseness is left about the constricted material at this region 2|.

One phase of the invention consists in the following:

After the condition of Fig. 4 is reached, or a similar one, the tool 9is removed from the eyes 5 and hooked into the tie wire opposite thetwist l9, as at 25 (Figs. 5 and 6). Then the tool is pulled as usual.The result is the insertion of a second twist at 21 as indicated in Fig.'7. This causes the space (or looseness) at 2| to be taken up, but sincethe gathered portions in the bag are already fairly tight at thebeginning of this second operation, a similar condition does not ariseunder the twist 21 (Fig. '7). The result is a very tight closure allaround the tie wire. The additional operation may be repeated at otherperipheral points, but ordinarily this is not necessary, except onlarger bag mouths.

Also, the tie wires may be made up with pretwisted sections as indicatedin Fig. 8. In this view the straight tie wire, which has eyes 5 thereinas heretofore, is provided with intermediate twisted extensions 29forming eyes 3!. This wire is bent around a bunched or gathered bagmouth and may then be twisted by the tool, as indicated at 19 in Fig. 9.Then the hook I may be applied to the eyes 3| and by additional pulls,further tightening twists may be inserted into the twists 29.

It will be understood that if desired a single initial twist 29 may beemployed in the wire resulting in a final tied appearance such as inFig. 7.

It will be clear from the drawing that the eye 21 of Fig. '7 or eyes 3!of Fig. 9 must be so positioned with respect to eyes 5 that the pull oneye 21 or either eye 3| has a component adapted to draw out the slack at2| (Fig. 4); that is, they must occupy positions on the loop around thebag which are at least 90 degrees or more from the adjoined eyes 5.

It will also be understood that Fig. 9 represents the result of usingthe tie wire of Fig. 8, and also the result of using a wire withoutintermediate pre-twisted portions but in connection with which areemployed two additional twisting operations such as shown in Fig. 5.

Reference is hereby made under the provisions of Patent Office Rule 43to my application Serial Number 609,250, filed August 6, 1945, for Bagclosures.

In View of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of theinvention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

constricting the resulting 100p about the article,

and an additional eye formed in the wire in such a location between saideyes that it will occupy a position on the loop which is at ninetydegrees or more from the position on the loop of said adjoined eyes,whereby pulling and twisting the additional eye will take up inherentslack left under the previously pulled and twisted adjoined eyes.

2. A closure tie wire comprising a length of bendable wire having eyesat its ends, said eyes upon looping the wire around an article, beingadapted to be adjoined for pulling and twisting, thereby constrictingthe resulting loop about the article, and additional eyes formed in thewire in such locations between said end eyes that they will occupypositions on the loop which are respectively ninety degrees or greaterfrom the position on the loop of said adioined eyes, whereby pulling andtwisting the additional eyes will take up slack left under thepreviously pulled and twisted adjoined eyes.

CHARLES V. BRADY.

